Exhausted By Diesel: How America's Dependence on Diesel Engines Threatens Our Health

Publication Date: January 1998

Publisher: Natural Resources Defense Council

Author(s): Gail Ruderman Feuer; Tim Carmichael; Todd R. Campbell; Gina M. Solomon

Research Area: Environment; Transportation

Type: Report

Abstract:

Everyone is familiar with the black cloud that belches out of some diesel trucks and buses when they accelerate. This choking cloud is not only offensive, but growing evidence shows that it is also a health hazard. Diesel exhaust is a complex mixture of fine particles and toxic organic materials which come from the combustion of diesel fuel. Much of this toxic mix is contributed to our environment by mobile sources such as trucks, buses, and trains. Diesel exhaust contains hundreds of constituent chemicals, dozens of which are recognized human toxicants, carcinogens, reproductive hazards, or endocrine disruptors.